Means for conditioning inking rolls



Jail. 5, 1926.

E. OTTEN MEANS FOR CONDITIONING INKING ROLLS 2' SheetsS heet 1 Filed 00tl7, 1924 ATTORNEY Jan. 5 1926.

E. OTTEN MEANS FOR CONDITIONING INKING ROLLS Fiied Oct. '17

, 1924' 2 Sheets-Sheet 2' INVENTOR [farm/70 Orrnv ATI'OR Y- Patented Jan. 5, 1926.

' UNI'T EED STATES MEANS FOR CONDITIONTLNG FNKING ROLLS.

Application filed October 17,1524. Serial in. 744,157.

To all whom it may cone-om:

Be it known that I, EDWARD OTTEN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Brooklyn, county of Kings, city and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Means for Conditioning InkingRolls, of which the followin is a specification.

is invention relates to means for conditioning inking rolls and has for its primary object to provide an apparatus which is of relatively simple construction and which may be readily installed inoperative position relative to a multiple type newspress whereby the inking rolls may be maintained at approximately the desired temperature so as to prevent undue softening of the rolls in summer or undue hardening of said rolls in winter.

In one practical embodiment of the invention, I illustrate the provision of means for projecting a plurality of streams of air under pressure transversely through or across the press adjacent to the inking rolls. In summer this air is cool, while in winter it is warmed or heated. Thus the air streams impinging upon t e surfaces of the inking rolls will maintain the same in a substantially constant predetermined plastic condition so as to insure the proper inking of the type cylinders, while at the same time obviating the practical destruction of said rolls by melting of'the ink composition, or on the other hand, hardening of the roll surfaces to such an extent properly inked.

The apparatus-above referred to includes a plurality of flexible discharge conduits, and it is one of the important objects of the invention to provide an improved connecting means between these conduits and a common airsupply header whereby the conduits may be independently moved or adjusted to various angular positions relative to the header for the purpose of'permitting unobstructed access to different parts of the press.

W'ith the above and other objects in view,

the invention consists in the improved conditioning apparatus for inking rolls, and in the forn'nconstruction and relative arrange-- ment of the sfeveralparts as will be hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and subsequently incorporated in the subjoined claim. In the drawings wherein I have illustrated a simple and practical embodiment of that the type will not be my present improvements and in which similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views:

Figure 1 is a side elevation partly in section, showing a preferred embodimentof the invention and diagrammatically illustrating its application in relation to two newspaper printing presses Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary lon- -gitudina-l section through the air receiving header; and

Figure 3 is a transverse section taken on the'linc 3- 3 of Figure 2.

Referring in detail to the drawings, and more particularly to Figure 1 thereof, 5 designates two printing presses which may be of any familiar type or construction, each of said presses having oneor more printing cylinders 6 and a series of inking rolls associated with each of said cylinders, as indicated at 7. These inking rolls are composed ;of asuitable composition material which initially, is 'of'a plastic nature, which is suitably hardened so as tocprovide a rigid body of-cylindrical form. This cylindrical bfodyor roll is provided at its ends with suitable means whereby it may be operatively mounted in thepr'ess in relation to the printin cylinder. r i

p to the advent of the present invention. considerable loss of time in the operation of the presses as well as financial loss has been occasioned by the softening of these inking rolls so that they break down, necessitating the stopping of the presses and the replacement 'ofthe rolls by new ones. It will be understoodthatzthis trouble is particularly pronounced during very hot weather, owing to th'e high temperaturein the press room. However, it is also a well known fact that when the reverse of such condition obtains during the winter when the press room is below a certain temperature, the surfaces of the inking rolls become hardened to such an extent that there is an inadequate supply of headers and the number of air discharge conduits is not required, but may be altered in numerous particulars, as the exigencies of each particular case may necessitate.

As herein shown, the main air supply pipe 8 is suitably mounted and supported adjacent the ceiling of the room, the diameter and capacity of this pipe being determined by the number of presses in connection with which the apparatus is to be used. One end of the pipe 8 is open and extends through the building wall as shown at 9 for the entrance thereto of relatively cool external air. This open end of the pipe may be covered by a sheet of wire or other reticulated material, indicated at 10, to prevent the entrance of leaves, stones, or other foreign matters to the interior of said pipe. Adjacent to this end of the pipe a fan or blower ll of any suitable type, is arranged therein and driven from a motor by means of the belt or other driving connection indicated at 12. At the inner side of this blower an opening is provided in one side of the pipe 8 normally closed by the door 13 and through this open" ing a suitable electric heater may be insertcd.within the pipe so as to warm the incoming air when required.

At spaced points, substantially in line with the presses 5, a branch pipe 14 of relatively small diameter extends downwardly from the main air supply pipe 8, the lower end of each branch pipe being connected with an inverted hollow or tubular Y shaped member 15, the spaced arms of which are connected as shown at 17 in Figure 2 of the drawings, to the upwardly extending nipples on oppo sit-e ends of the cylindrical header 16. ith this header a series of flexible metallic air discharge conduits 18 are connected in the manner to be presently explained in detail.

The flexible conduits 18 may be bent into any desired curved form so as to position their lower open ends adjacent the ends of the inking rolls 7 at one side of the press, as clearly shown in Figure 1 of the drawings, whcrcl a plurality of air streams will be delivered under pressure from the open ends of these conduits transversely across the press and will impinge upon the surfaces of the inking rolls. It has been found in actual operation that in the absence of such cooling medium for the inking rolls when an unusually high temperature of the atmosphere in the prcssroom obtains, as in summer, the plastic composition material of which these inking rolls are composed will not maintain their rigid form but will sag, melt, bend or break down. They must then be removed and replaced by new rolls. as these inking rolls cost from thirty-live to fifty dollars each. it will be apparent that such frequent replacement of the rolls is a considerable item of expense in the operation of the press.

{Vina-i, {in the winter, the atmosphere fall-s below a certain temperature it becomes necessary to apply heat to the rolls so as to maintain the desired plastic condition of the surfaces thereof whereby the printing cylinders will be adequately inked. In such case it is only necessary to insert the heater above referred to within the main air supply pipe 8 through the opening 13 so that: the incoming air driven under pressure by the blower 11 through the pipe 8 will first be heated before entering the header 16.

The cylindrical wall of each header 16 is provided in its lower portion with spaced circuniferentially extending slots 19, and be tween these slots the annular metal bands 20 of less diameter than the header are arranged, suitable spacing rings 21 being interposed between said bands and the wall of the header and said bands and rings rigidly fixed to the header wall by rivets 22. It will be noted that the spacing rings 21 are of appreciably less width than the band 20, thus providing annular spaces between said bands and the wall of the header. In these spaces, the opposite ends of the sleeves 23 are loosely engaged for rotative movement. Each sleeve is provided with a radially extending nipple 2 1 projecting outwardly through one of the slots 19 in the header wall. To these sleeve nipples the upper ends of the respective conduits 18 are suitably connected. By means of this construction, it will be evident, as indicated in Figure 2, that the several flexible conduits 18 may be reidily swung. in relation to the cylindrical header independently of each other to various angular positions.

From the foregoing description cousidcred in connection vith th: accompanying drawings, itis believed that the con struction, i'nanner of operation and several advantages of my present invention will be clearly and fully understood. lVhile I have illustrated the conditioning apparatus as applied to printing presses, it is apparent that such appa atus might be employed in com nection with any other multiple arrangcment of presses, it being merely necessaryto provide a suflicient number of groups oi headers and air discharge conduits and to increase the capacity of the main air supply pipe in accordance therewith. Further, while I have shown one arrangcn'ient of the air blower or fan and have described a cou struction of the air receiving headers which is quite desirable. it is to be understood that these and other features of my present disclosure are susceptible of embodiment in various other alternative structures, and l. accordingly reserve the privile 'e of adopting all such legitimate changes 111 the form, proportion and relative arrangement of the several parts as may be fairly embodied within the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed. I

ltlfi llO I claim:

In a conditioning apparatus for the inking rolls of a printing press, an air sup ly pipe, a cylindrical header, connections etween the opposite ends of said header and the supply pipe, the wall of said cylinder having a plurality of circumferential slots therein, independently rotatable sleeves mounted in the header and having nipples projecting through the respective slot-s, a

series of flexible conduits respectively connected at one of their ends with said nipples and adapted to he independently adjusted to position their discharge ends adjacent to the inking rolls of the press, and means for delivering air under pressure to said supply pipe whereby air is discharged from said conduits in a plurality of streams transversely across the press contiguous to tho inking rolls.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention, I have signed my name hereto.

EDVVAR-D OTTEN. 

